4.9.00 ANAHEIM ANGELS vs BOSTON RED SOX
So I'm guilty of one of those minor transgressions which, while perhaps not worthy of genuine shame, cannot fail to instill in the perpetrator a certain sheepishness. My first baseball game of the 2000 season was an Angels game. I know. It's not as bad as it sounds, though. It was a Sunday afternoon, the Dodgers' home opener was still a week away, the Red Sox were in town, and Pedro Martinez was pitching. Sufficiently mitigating circumstances, most would agree.
And as blasphemous as it sounds, there are actually some aspects in which “The Big Ed” has it all over Dodger Stadium. Granted, these advantages all stem directly from the Angels' status as a second-tier ballclub and Edison Field's distinctly Disneyfied atmosphere, which means that any comparison of the Chavez Ravine and Anaheim facilities can't be considered valid in any honest sense (for one is to be taken seriously, and the other is not), but these advantages are worth enumerating nonetheless. First among them is easy access. There's a sports bar in the shadow of an office building a quarter mile from the stadium, which means that parking is free, and usually, getting in and out is a snap. Second, seating after the first few innings is essentially general admission. On many occassions last season, usually when the Angels were playing host to some AL Central bottomfeeders nobody cares about (but with whom I tend to develop inexplicable fascinations), I bought a six dollar ticket in the left field pavilion, enjoyed the view from there for a spell while taking advantage of the nonexistent concession lines, and then moseyed on down the left field line and grabbed a chair two rows up from the home team's dugout, halfway between third and home. Try that at Dodger Stadium.
It being a gorgeous spring day and the first Sunday game of the year in southern California, however, my brother and I arrived at the park to discover our preferred cheapskate section sold out. No matter: right field is only two dollars more, and it's just as easy to sneak down to the field level from there. And field level between first base and the foul pole is where you want to be at a Angels-Red Sox game, it turns out. For the last two years (and perhaps longer), this neighborhood has been the source of “Let's go Red Sox!” chants loud and persistent enough that embarrassed Boston players on the field could clearly be seen trying to suppress their laughter. After the requisite three innings in our own seats, we headed down to join our fellow New Anglophiles and contributed to robust cries of “Pe-dro! Pe-dro! Pe-dro!” every time Martinez had two strikes on a batter, which was often.
Which brings us to the game itself. Oddly enough (for an Angels game), today featured a match-up of last season's two winningest pitchers. Pedro Martinez vs. Kent Bottenfield, the guy who won 18 games for the Cardinals and is destined to spend the next six months desperately trying to prove that last year wasn't a fluke. He looked good for a few innings, then gave up back-to-back homers to Troy O'Leary and Carl Everett in the fourth. This immediately after Angels fans had mightily cheered Darin Erstad's diving catch of a Nomar Garciaparra drive to left center. Angels fans weren't heard from much after that.
Martinez was in typical form, toying with hitters in that manner he has, which could be described as insolent if it weren't so damned obvious how much fun he's having. Playfully defying batters to guess his next move, coming up and in on them at will, watching them fall over themselves trying to adjust to his change-up, Pedro ended up with 12 strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings, and was charged with one earned run, which scored after he'd left the game.
FINAL SCORE: RED SOX 5, ANGELS 2
MEMORABLE HECKLE:
A torrent of abuse unleashed upon Tim Salmon when he returned to right field
after grounding out to end the eighth with runners on second and third. “Way
to step up with men on, Salmon!” etc. The best part was when the game
was over, and we got a look at the slovenly and morbidly obese Angels fan
who had issued these criticisms. Classic.
